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Chapter History and By-Laws

A dinner meeting was held on the evening of January 15, 1958 at the Athens Athletic
Club in Oakland for the express purpose of establishing a sponsoring committee to
develop plans for formulating a local ACI Chapter. Present at this meeting
were: Joe Kelly, Ed Howard, Orville Jack, Lewis Rural, Ben Gerwick Jr.,
Al Klein, Mez Newman, Carl Rollins, Milos Polivka, Frank Killinger, Sam Burks, Dick
Allen and Harry Thomas. This meeting was presided over by S. D. Burks and resulted
in the formation of various task groups to pursue chapter formation and chartering
by ACI.

As a result of the work of the task groups, a charter was granted by ACI on November
5, 1958. The Northern California Chapter was the number two chapter founded. The
first meeting of the newly formed chapter was held at the Leopard Cafe in San Francisco.
President S. D. Burks presided with a featured presentation by T. Y. Lin on the
topic "Observation on Concrete in Russia".

A long lasting tradition of meeting at Spengers Fish Grotto in Berkeley started
with the Second Annual Meeting in March 1961. (Dinner $3.25 per person tax &
tip included.) Speaker for the evening was Ellis L. Armstrong of the Better Highway
Development program. The tradition was interrupted in 1998 with the closing of the
restaurant, but resumed in June, 2000, after Spengers re-opened. We now meet in
a half dozen different locations so that more of the members in our large region can attend during
the year.

The chapter was incorporated by the State of California on April 25, 1961 as the
Northern California Chapter of the American Concrete Institute signed by President
Milos Polivka and Secretary-Treasurer Wilbur Moulton. The charter was amended in
1984 to change the name and sphere of influence to "Northern California and Western
Nevada Chapter American Concrete Institute" signed by President Al Kaufman and Secretary
Bob Adams.

The chapter has been involved in numerous educational and promotional activities
over the years. Certification has been a prominent activity of the chapter since
Everett Osgood put on the first program at the San Jose Materials Yard in 1984.
Heidy Braverman was the first Field Technician Chairperson. A formal certification
committee was formed in 1988 with Jim Van Nest as Chairperson. The current Certification Committee Co-Chairs are Tom Fourre and Kevin Owen. Liese Hironaka serves as Certification Coordinator staff. In 2016, approximately 1,000 students were involved in the Certification
programs offered by the chapter.

We typically hold 10 events during the year, including dinner meetings with interesting industry speakers, a golf tournament, and a holiday social event. Our Student Nights feature Engineering and Concrete Industry Management students. We are the sponsor for two active student chapters, at San Jose State University and California State University Chico.

Each Fall we stage our Construction Awards competition that recognizes outstanding regional projects in five different categories. In 2015, ACI began an international awards competition and we have submitted winners from each of our Chapter's subsequent local Construction Awards.